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Three feelings sum up the Arts Sector’s response to COVID–19. Firstly, a feeling of doom and nothing seeming to work. Secondly, a sense of paralysis, coupled with a curiosity about what might work. Thirdly, there’s an optimism about the future, and a fierce determination to survive and thrive in this trying time.
I don’t think these feelings are confined to the Arts Sector, of course, and these feelings alternate with each other even over a single day. Arts organisations are faring better than individual artists. Jobs have some protection, but freelance work sadly does not. Individual artists that have very low incomes, in any case, have lost al

The Liberties is one of Dublin’s oldest neighbourhoods and for Amy Sergison, it’s part of her family history. She revisited the area to explore its evolution.
The Liberties is one of Dublin’s oldest neighbourhoods having been around in one way or another since the 12th century. In my memory, this is where my nana lived and my Dad grew up.
I have very fond memories of visiting my nana on Basin Street. We would know we were close in the car, even if our eyes were closed because we could smell the hops from Guinness. I remember Greta’s shop (sadly gone today), where the floor sparkled like diamonds and jars filled with sugar barley stood tall on top of

Katie Kavanagh, a Dublin 8 based photographer, had an idea. As we’re generally stuck indoors due to COVID-19 restrictions, she’d take portrait shots of her neighbours at their doors. The idea grew legs and she’s linked up with Purple House Cancer Support Centre for the project, ‘Doors Closed, Hearts Open‘. Their aim is to create a gallery of 200,000 Doortraits to support the 200,000 people living with Cancer in Ireland

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Elisa Capitanio is a UX Designer at social media intelligence agency Storyful, and also runs her own independent abstract art business.
She came to Ireland nine years ago completely by chance. Living in Italy, she longed for a change of pace, so she left her home of Bergamo and moved to London. Dublin came calling with an opportunity for Elisa to try her hand at being a web designer, so she packed her bags for a second time and moved country again. Since then, Ireland has become her permanent home and has inspired her art.
She chose Dublin for its fast market and inspiring tech community.
Of working in Dublin’s tech industry, Elisa said:

Traffic: we all hate it. But we’re stuck with – and in – it. Or are we?
A new initiative from Dublin City Council (DCC) and delivery firm UPS is aiming to reduce the number of vehicles on the city’s roads. It uses what UPS call an “Eco Hub” container on Wolfe Tone Street. The Eco Hub acts as a small distribution hub from which deliveries can be made by bike or on foot.
“It came about when we were approached by UPS, who had piloted the same project in London, Paris and Hamburg,” explains Colm Ennis, Senior Executive Engineer with DCC. “We are developing a strategy for city centre goods deliveries and are trying to reduce

In recent years, Dublin has lost some of its most important creative spaces to a building boom that’s reminiscent of the Celtic Tiger era.
Block T in Smithfield and South Studios near Cork Street were both closed down in 2016 with a significant loss of square footage for artists, photographers, designers and writers. In their place, however, a new generation of co-working spaces – aimed specifically at servicing Dublin’s creative communities – is coming into being.
Although they have become abundant in many European capitals in the last few years, co-working spaces are a relatively new arrival in the Dublin property market. In the past 12 months the number

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Following a recent major agreement between the Government and the Hague based Permanent Court of Arbitration there is a significant opportunity for Dublin to become a centre for dispute resolution.
Dublin has a huge amount to offer as an international arbitration venue, including a highly respected legal system. Following the UK’s departure from the EU, Ireland will also be the only fully common-law, English speaking country in the EU. Currently cities including Paris, Zurich and Stockholm have been seen as seats for arbitration, however newer places, including Dublin could now attract high profile cases. This has the potential to be a major boost to the econ

The COVID-19 crisis has resulted in many businesses facing an uncertain future, rethinking how they will make money. Many entrepreneurs have found a silver lining from their new circumstances in being given an unexpected opportunity to work on sustainable and ethical ideas as they reinvent their business.
Making your start-up or existing business sustainable or ethical is also a smart, future-proof option. Customers are now much more informed and aware of the environmental impact of their purchases. A more sustainable product or service will create a positive brand image and reputation that will impact the bottom line of many businesses.

As the impact of the COVID–19 outbreak intensifies, businesses across Dublin are finding ways to diversify to survive the crisis and retain their staff. The virus is hitting our economy hard, and it’s creating a situation that’s well beyond the experience of most business owners. However, in these difficult times, many businesses have managed, with the support of their Local Enterprise Office, to adapt and shift to new products and services quickly.
UNIFORMAL
Uniformal, an established uniform and corporate wear provider based in South Dublin, have been supplying Irish businesses with bespoke and premium ready-to-wear uniform solutions and workwear fo

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With a huge urban campus, state-of-the-art facilities, and the largest student body of any university in Ireland, University College Dublin welcomes hundreds of new international students every year.
UCD prides itself on being Ireland’s global university and has international campuses and strong links to academic institutions in locations as far-flung as Beijing and Malaysia. They have a portfolio of over 500 institutional partnerships in over 90 countries, allowing students and staff to engage in exchange programmes for research, studies, internships, field trips and volunteering opportunities. Around 1,000 students avail of these opportunities every year, a

We sat down with Professor Philip Nolan, president of Maynooth University, to discuss his plans for the university, which lies on the periphery of Dublin. His role focuses on creating a strategy and implementing this to grow and develop the university.
Maynooth University is home to over 1,000 staff and 13,000 students, and more than 1,200 of these are international students hailing from over 60 countries. The university offers a wide range of excellent academic programmes which are delivered by leading researchers in various fields, and students are challenged and encouraged to reach their full potential in this top-class learning environment.
C

Romina Dashghachian is 22. She’s from Germany (her parents are from Iran), and she’s studying for a Master’s in Public Relations at Dublin City University (DCU). Romina’s hometown is Munich, and she reckons that city and Dublin have a lot in common. “Munich has a community feel, so you never feel like you’re in a giant anonymous city. And that’s why I like Dublin as well. When you’re here, you don’t feel like you’re just disappearing in the crowds.”
But how did she come to choose Dublin in the first place? “I was in Dublin two years ago with a friend of mine just for a holiday trip, and we fell

Bull Island & the Dublin Bay Biosphere

Most people who visit Bull Island from week to week probably don’t realise that it’s part of one of the biggest biospheres in Europe. So, what’s a biosphere?

Quite simply, a biosphere is an environment where people, nature and culture connect and co-exist. Imagine the biosphere as the perfect cup of tea, with people as the water, nature as the tea-leaves, and culture as the milk. The tea-leaves are rich and unique, but need the water to be hot so they can release the flavour, while the milk is added to make it more drinkable. In the same way, nature and culture within the biosphere can add value to people, but only where it is protected and sustainably managed.

The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO), has developed many protected biosphere reserves around the world. These are areas made up of terrestrial, marine and coastal ecosystems that promote the conservation of biodiversity with sustainable use.

At the core of Dublin’s biosphere is the bay and Bull Island, a low lying sand spit located between Howth and the city, which was declared a biosphere reserve in 1981. The island is only 200 years old, developing over time from silt build up. It is now home to nine protected habitats, as well as two golf courses. Within these nine habitats, wildlife thrives.

Dublin’s biosphere is roughly 300km squared, the core area of which extends along the coastline from Dún Laoghaire around to Howth, Ireland’s Eye and up to Portmarnock. Bull Island is where you’ll find some of its most intriguing specimens though. For example, Ireland’s only protected butterfly, the Marsh Fritillary, has made North Bull Island it’s home for part of the year. The best time of year to see them is around late August and September. You can also find Ireland’s only native lizard here. It’s simply called the Common Lizard.

The causeway road that connects the mainland to the island divides the mudflats into two areas. The larger mudflat is at the north and receives seawater via Sutton Creek. The tides enter the southern mudflats under the Bull Bridge. These mudflats will attract around 30,000 overwintering birds between July and March, most of which are waders, like black-tailed godwit, curlews and oystercatchers. You’ll find herons, lapwings and little egrets in smaller numbers too.

In the summer, common terns, arctic terns and sandwich terns come to the island and its lagoons to feed. If you’re lucky, you might find a rare roseate tern at the north of the island. Perhaps the most beautiful and fascinating of the birds that flock here are the Canadian Brent Geese. Thousands of these beautiful birds arrive at the start of winter, flying thousands of miles from high-Arctic Canada to rest in Dublin Bay. You will see them in great numbers in the sky, with their black head making them relatively distinct.

One of the best ways to take in the full biosphere experience is by boat and specifically Dublin Bay Cruises’ Biosphere Discovery Tour. You can sail from Dún Laoghaire, Howth or Sir John Rogerson’s Quay in the city. Our tour is led by Olivia and Emma, each with a wealth of knowledge about the area and the corresponding wildlife.

If you’re lucky, you might even see a puffin

We leave the city aboard the St Bridget and sail out into the bay through the busy Dublin Port area shadowed by the iconic Poolbeg Towers. It’s one of the more unique views of the Towers you’ll get. They’re the tallest structures in Dublin, and among the seatrucks and cargo ships, you feel particularly small in this hive of activity.

We sail out past the Poolbeg Lighthouse towards Dún Laoghaire. On the mainland you have a great view of Sandymount Strand, Monkstown, Bray Head and the mountains in the distance. Having docked at Dún Laoghaire you’ve got 20 minutes or so to grab a chipper or a coffee before heading back up the coast to Howth.

On the outskirts of Dublin Bay we pass the Dublin Bay Buoy. This is a safe water mark, but it’s also a weather monitor, which tweets out the local weather and sea conditions. Beyond the Dublin Bay Buoy, about seven miles out to sea, you’ll spot the Kish Lighthouse. This warns the many boats and ships passing through Dublin Bay of the Kish sandbank. The lighthouse, in its current state, has been there since 1965. Previously, a series of floating devices warned sailors of the sandbank. Between the late 1800s and as recent as 1947, a number of ships have been wrecked on the Kish sandbank.

As we sail past the Howth peninsula we spot several cormorants in their characteristic spread-wing pose. “Cormorants are one of the only sea birds without an oil duct,” Olivia explained. “That’s why they dry their feathers like that.”

Because these birds dive for fish, they need less buoyancy than other birds. The structure of their feathers and lack of oil means they can dive deeper than other birds to catch fish. The spread-wing pose dries out their feathers after diving, and you’ll see plenty of them fanning their feathers on the rocks all around the Irish coastline.

Dublin Bay Biosphere

Dublin City's Comhairle na nÓg (Youth Council) tell the story of Dublin Bay and its UNESCO Biosphere in their own words

If you’re lucky, you might even see a puffin. They nest on nearby Lambay Island. Porpoises are also common to this area, and we were lucky enough to catch one as it came up for air. “They’ll come up once or twice for air,” Olivia says, “then they’re back down for quite a while. So you’re lucky enough to catch one as they’re not up all that often.”

Ireland’s Eye Island appears around the bend of the peninsula, which is another area filled with wildlife. You’ll get a glance at it, but for a real experience, it’s best to take a ferry from Howth harbour out to explore the island, as we did earlier this summer.

After about a two-hour cruise, you’ll dock again at Howth harbour, your head filled with the sea breeze and information on the biosphere. It’s an experience best concluded with conversation, some fresh seafood and a pint of Guinness in one of several Howth harbour restaurants.

Patrick studied English, Media and Cultural Studies and now works as a freelance journalist. He writes about social and cultural issues, football and a bit of technology, as well as some fiction. He's confused by the world but finds solace in the smooth rhythms of Marvin Gaye.

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A 15 minute boat ride from Howth on Dublin’s northside lies Ireland’s Eye, a beautiful and mostly untouched island.
The only signs of human activity are two structures: a Martello Tower and the ruins of a church. It’s a hive of activity otherwise; the wildlife on offer is incredible, notably the many species of nesting birds. The most spectacular natural feature is the huge freestanding rock called “the Stack”, at the northeastern corner of the island, which plays host to a large variety of seabirds, including thousands of guillemots, razorbills, fulmars and gulls. There’s even a few breeding pairs of puffins. Grey seals are abundant in the sea around the isla

The people, mammals, places and things that make Dublin special.
A gang of lads.
Shy, reserved, quiet.
Just chewing the cud.
Sure, every now and again there is a bit of jostling.
Just like you would expect from a group of healthy young males.
But there’s one thing you would not expect.
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Men on one side.
Women on the other.
But come September, that will all change.
Scents will be donned. Fights will be had. Women will be chased.
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So

A stone’s throw from the city (this could depend on one’s throwing arm), there’s something extreme going on. Tyres hitting gravel and muck at speed. That’s all we’ll say for the moment, we’ll let Niall Davis from Biking.ie do the talking. Quick note: a “spin” for the uninitiated, like ourselves, is going out on your mountain bike.
Dublin.ie: Tell us a bit about Biking.ie?
Niall: We’ve two locations, one in the Dublin mountains [Ticknock] and one in the Wicklow mountains [Ballinastoe]. From both those hubs we run bike rentals, lessons, tours, and we act as an information or